In Loving Memory of Helen
By Laura BarlowAn Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

All of God's creatures have rights, a fact that most people don't seem to recognize.
This includes both human and non-human animals, but not all of them can speak for themselves.

In Loving Memory of Helen
By Laura Barlow

Step up, Come one, Come all,
To the most BRUTAL show of them all!
This is the story of a kind, gentle friend,
One who's life came to a slow painful end.
She sent a message out to us all,
One which people care not to know.
46 years old, disabled and in pain,
She kept on performing,
So the circus could gain.
Took as a child from a place she loved,
Now she died......
All of her life, forced to do tricks...
And give elephant rides.
A life of misery, a life of pain...
A life of bullhooks, a life of chains.
2 years of protest, to get her let go...
IGNORED!
She died at the hands of Clyde-Beatty and Cole.

"Helen, a 46-year-old disabled elephant traveling with Clyde Beatty-Cole
Bros. Circus, suffered from a painful knee injury. Three veterinarians had
described Helen's disability as a chronic, degenerative condition causing
pain-related lameness, which is aggravated by grueling circus routines.
Despite requests to Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus to release Helen, into
retirement at a sanctuary, they kept her traveling, performing, and giving
rides. This past April [2001], after years of abuse at the hands of Clyde
Beatty-Cole Bros. circus, Helen Died."

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